11th Hour Project

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OVERVIEW: The 11th Hour Project is an environmental grantmaker that supports “resilient systems for food, energy, water, human health and climate” in the U.S. and globally. Its core programming areas include energy, food & agriculture, Indigenous communities, human rights, and emerging strategies.

IP TAKE: The 11th Hour Project is one of the Schmidt Family Foundation’s two major grantmaking entities, alongside its sister organization, the Schmidt Ocean Institute. As IP has reported, 11th Hour previously kept a relatively low profile, but in recent years has become one of the largest funders in the climate space, giving about $100 million a year, and “has set itself apart in climate philanthropy by backing underfunded local efforts to halt new fossil fuel infrastructure.” Taking a broad approach to solving interconnected environmental crises, 11th Hour funds everything from regenerative agriculture to improving the battery supply chain, and it works with other climate and environment funders through network-building and collaboratives.

11th Hour provides information about some grantees on its website, but doesn’t host a full grants database. This is not a particularly accessible funder. It doesn’t accept unsolicited grant proposals and does not provide information about programming staff on its website. All queries about grants or programs are directed to info@11thhourproject.org.

PROFILE: The Schmidts created the 11th Hour Project in 2006. While the 11th Hour Project is an independent outfit, it is considered a grantmaking and investment vehicle of the Schmidt Family Foundation. The 11th Hour Project has grown since its 2006 debut and is now a self-governing operation headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It awards grants through various funding buckets, including Energy, Food and Agriculture, N2, Indigenous Communities, Human Rights, and Emerging Strategies.

Grants for Climate Change and Energy

The 11th Hour Project conducts grantmaking for climate change through its Energy program, which has two priorities: “challenging the development of fossil fuels and accelerating the adoption of renewable energy.” In this vein, the Project views its climate and energy work through a climate equity lens.

While the 11th Hour Project has a program dedicated to clean energy, it conducts all of its work through interrelated climate and equity lenses across many of its giving programs, such as Food and Agriculture, as well as Human Rights.

  • 11th Hour ultimately views its climate work in terms of a “rapid transition away from fossil fuels, led by frontline communities,” so that it can not only maintain a climate stable future, but also ensure the “immediate health and safety benefits to millions of Americans – especially low-income communities and communities of color.”

  • Climate and clean energy grants are focused on: resisting oil and gas development, designing rapid and just transition plans for existing fossil fuel infrastructure, and re-envisioning how energy is generated, distributed and owned.

  • Its grantees tend to involve environmental organizations and non-environmentalist partners, such as farmers or labor activists, all working hand-in-hand to organize concrete improvements in public policy and everyday business practice.

  • Most of its climate grants support nonprofits building cross-sector coalitions and mobilizing them to press for long-term policy and market-based reforms. 

Past grantees include PSE Healthy Energy, and the American Lung Association’s California chapter, which received funding for mobilizing the health-care community behind climate-change policy. It has also funded the California Climate and Agricultural Network, the BlueGreen Alliance, and the Catskill Mountainkeeper, among many others.

Grants for Food and Sustainable Agriculture

The 11th Hour Project supports efforts to promote Food and Agriculture systems to build “resilient agricultural systems that improve soil, air, water, and animal and human health.” Some of this work overlaps with the 11th Hour Projects Human Rights work, which you can read more about separately after this section.

  • The 11th Hour believes this work is most possible through regenerative farming practices that can lead to more equitable “transition of our food and farming system while building the resilience of regional farming communities and food systems.”

  • This area of funding, like others, takes a network-based approach to grantmaking, which “connects organizations working from a variety of perspectives and strategies in order to take action on a shared vision that builds healthy soil and thriving communities.”

  • This area of funding has expanded its geographic focus from recent years to include the entirety of the U.S.

Past grantees include Missouri Rural Crisis Center, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Western Organization of Resource Councils, The Common Market, Farmer Veteran Coalition, Land Stewardship Project, and the Southeastern African-American Farmers’ Organic Network, among others.

Grants for Human Rights

The 11th Hour Project’s Human Rights program supports “movements for just and ecologically sound development that promotes human rights, vibrant local economies, and dignified livelihoods for all.” The 11th Hour Project, believing “that the climate crisis is deeply rooted in a global extractivist economy, structural inequality and systemic racism,” views its human rights work through the destructive impact of nature’s degredation on humans and the ability of that degradation to drive inequality.

While the project does not have stated geographic priorities, it channels the majority of its human rights grantmaking toward less-developed countries like Haiti and Africa. On occasion, 11th Hour funds human rights organizations that conduct widespread international rights efforts rather country-specific work.

Human rights grantees include Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, Groundswell International, Human Rights Watch, New Media Advocacy Project, and Virunga Foundation.

Grants for Indigenous Rights

While the 11th Hour Project’s work has always occurred at the intersection of climate and equity, it now has an Indigenous Communities program that more directly supports “Indigenous-led work that advances Indigenous communities’ and peoples’ self-determination and re-Indigenization.” This program seeks to support “land return and Indigenous stewardship efforts, particularly those that restore keystone species.”

Past grantees in this area include the California Tribal Fund, Hoopa Valley Tribe Fisheries Department, Indian Land Tenure Foundaiton, Save California Salmon, and Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting,” among others.

Other Grantmaking Opportunities

The Schmidt Family Foundation sometimes distributes grants that address “global sustainability challenges” through the 11th Hour Project’s Impact Investing program. This program awards Mission Related Investments (MRI) and Program Related Investments (PRI) in four key areas: climate change, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and marine technology.

N2, a newer program, funds “organizations, initiatives and movements that enable access and support for youth to thrive through nature + nurture.”

Important Grant Details:

Grants range from $15,000 to about $1.25 million. To get a broader sense of the types of human rights NGOs benefiting from 11th Hour’s support, prospective grantseekers should review its grantees list. The 11th Hour does not accept unsolicited proposals or letters of inquiry.

PEOPLE:

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